Film company casts city in the starring role
A DENBY Dale-based film company is shooting a brand new TV detective drama series set in and around York.
John Danbury, managing director of Visualize Films and creator of the series, said: “York is such an evocative place and we wanted to use the city as more than just a backdrop to the drama so our script ideas have been developed with the city as a central character so the plot lines could only happen in York.
This is unlike other shows where although the scenery is great they could be anywhere.”
Visualize champions local talent, both in front of and behind the camera, and aims to give opportunities to those who have yet to break into TV and the young people who are training in the region so they don’t have to relocate to London or Manchester to find work.
The new series follows the adventures of Sebastian Duke, a disillusioned health and safety officer, who decides to abandon his regular career with an insurance company and take up a new role solving crime. He teams up with a retired Gurkha and an investigative journalist Hayley and her tech wizard teenage son.
The first episode is a two-hour feature length mystery and is set to be directed by Emmerdale and Shameless star Kelli Hollis.
Kelli said: “I’ve heard people refer to it as a cross between Jonathan Creek and Scooby Doo!
“Every story is a thought-provoking challenge; a sort of ‘locked room mystery’ where the only explanation MUST be supernatural – but as with Scooby Doo there’s always a practical and criminal explanation in the final reel.”
With multi-award winning cinematographer and York resident Dave Thorp at the helm there will be plenty to see.
John added: “York is very aesthetic. There are some delightful views – some well-known, and some not so obvious. The biggest technical challenge we will face is running a camera down a narrow snickleway just 26in wide for a chase sequence!
“Everyone involved seems so excited about what the series will have to offer. There seems to be an almost insatiable demand for crime drama both in the UK and abroad, and overseas viewers love the ‘Englishness’ some current series have to offer and York is about as English as it gets.
“We’ve already had interest from several international distributors even at this early stage.